


The Betrayal

by TrishaCollins



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Gen, Mind Control, SPACE ALIENS, Small children exposed to space aliens, Tom's no good very bad day, Yeerks Vs Carseats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 17:18:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15466251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrishaCollins/pseuds/TrishaCollins
Summary: The Yeerks did not care about morals. The Yeerks did not care about right. In the wake of discovering just who the Animorphs were, they moved swiftly to find out anything they could about them.Those infested included Jake's other cousins.





	The Betrayal

Ellen had come to visit with the kids after Jake disappeared. He had heard his dad talking to her on the phone.

Or rather ‘he’ had heard ‘his dad’ talking to her on the phone. Iniss had been sitting rather sullenly at the table, listening and making no attempts to disguise that he was.

He was trying not to listen, trying to push away the events happening in the kitchen until they stopped entering his life.

Iniss had his orders; the Yeerks in his parents had their orders. 

His family was being neutralized as a potential threat. His aunt Ellen, his Uncle George, his Uncle Dan, his parents, his cousins.

“Aunt Ellen, why don’t I take them to the Gardens for a little while? Get them out of everyone’s hair?” Iniss knew how to act helpful, knew exactly the right tone to take to make people trust him.

Aunt Ellen didn’t even bother to question him. “Thanks, Tom, it’s great that you are being such a big help to your parents. I know you’re preparing for the university.” 

Iniss smiled, not commenting. 

He wouldn’t be going to the university. He knew that. Iniss had made no secret of the fact that school was behind him now, not ahead of him. The Yeerks didn’t care about test scores.

Forest was little, and had all sorts of baby crap that had to be loaded into the car, Brooke watched him with her thumb in her mouth, eyes huge. 

None of the kids had handled Saddler’s death well, but Brooke was at the age where she both understood and didn’t understand. Forest was too little, Justin was old enough that he got it just fine.

Brooke was still confused. 

“Did Jake go away like Saddler went away, Tom?”

Iniss kept wrestling with the baby seat. “Not in the same way, Brooke. He just ran away. He’s…having some issues, you know?” She probably didn’t, but he made no effort to point that out to Iniss. 

Brooke nodded quietly.

< Let me do it. >

< I can manage this stupid contraption. >

< Look either we can stand here all day while you try not to curse at it or you can let me do it. >

Iniss grumbled faintly but relented, allowing him to fasten Forest’s seat into the car. 

He smiled at Brooke, bending down to scoop up Forest before Iniss retook control. Iniss was not particularly fond of children, he had more leeway dealing with tasks Iniss didn’t like to do. 

Brooke’s forehead wrinkled for a moment, her confusion obvious. 

< Idiot. You’re too genuine. >

He accepted the backwards shove without much struggle, allowing Iniss to finish fastening the kids into the car. 

Justin was scowling at the house, his head tilted to the side. “I don’t know why we’re here anyway. Why isn’t dad?”

“Come on, Justin, our parents have enough to worry about right now.” Iniss waved the grumbling away.

“Yeah, and you’re an adult and are just playing babysitter. Doesn’t it bother you that they’re talking about the important stuff without you?”

Brooke frowned at her brother from the back seat. “Justin, stop being a brat and listen to Tom!”

Justin rolled his eyes, but got in the car, crossing his arms over his chest.

< I am going to enjoy that one being infested. >

He tried not to shudder. < Brooke and Forest aren’t going to be much good as hosts. They’re too little. >

< I’m not sticking my neck out for your family. So don’t even start. I have my orders. >

< They’re just kids, Iniss, they don’t know anything. Even Justin, for all that he’s a bit of a brat. They’re little. >

< That’s the exact argument you used for your brother, and look how that turned out. Or do you want another visit to interrogation? >

He flinched mentally, unable to help himself, but forced himself to continue. < If you can get the information they want without infesting them, aren’t you still following orders? You know Jake wouldn’t have done anything where they could see. He’s too smart for that. >

< As has recently been established, neither of us knows anything about your brother. >

He went quiet, watching the kids in the rearview mirror. < At least take them to the Gardens. If they’ve seen Jake morph, it’s probably something from there, right? So they might let slip that they’ve seen an animal before. >

Iniss tore into him, easily finding the root of the request. < They won’t thank you for one last exciting afternoon. >

< But they’ll be tired when they’re done. Less chance of them misbehaving, right? > He felt like he was dooming himself, begging and borrowing every scrap of a chance he could get.

< It is unlikely that Jake will fly over at just the right moment. He knows he’s being watched for. >

< Please, Iniss. >

< I hate you. I hate whichever misbegotten idiot crawled out of the primordial ooze to start the evolutionary chain that would eventually result in your entire family. I hate this muddy little planet and all the gasping idiots that dwell on it. I hate your fucking brother more than I have ever hated a sentient life form in my life. More than any sentient has ever hated another sentient. I will see him destroyed, you understand that, right? >

He couldn’t swallow, he wasn’t in control. < Yes, Iniss. >

< Not dead, destroyed. I will make sure he lives to suffer. >

< yes. >

But he turned the car towards the Gardens, away from the Yeerk pool. 

He wished he could sigh, but trapped in the back corner of his mind, all he could do was watch.

He was used to that by now. 

*~*~*~*~*  
Forest was asleep on his shoulder, snoring softly and drooling a wet patch through his shirt.

The Yeerk hated it, but he was trying to drink up the contact. Brooke's hand was in his, fingers tight and eyes wide. “Are you sure we can be down here?”

The Yeerk winked at her. “My friend let us in, didn’t they?”

She nodded. “Is a scary place, Tom? I don’t like scary places.”

He should have given up a while ago, knew his voice wouldn’t reach his tiny cousin. He had been a controller for long enough that he knew nothing would happen because he wanted it to. But he couldn’t make himself stop. < Run. Justin take her and run. > Jake hadn’t come, the Animorphs didn’t appear to save them. 

“Would I take you somewhere scary?” The Yeerk asked her, his inflection warming the voice they shared

< It's not me Brooke. It isn’t. Run. Run. Run. >

Brooke relaxed, still pressed against his side. “Nah uh.”

“See? We will be fine. The Gardens are really safe. This is where they keep the dolphins.”

She brightened, looking ahead to her brother.

Justin was ignoring them, running how hand along the wall. 

So resentful of the fact that he was being babysat that he didn’t realize he was walking into a trap and that this entire day was a furious boon granted to him by the Yeerk before the kids were infested. 

His hand swung hers, she giggled and gave a little skip.

They passed through the sensor and he heard a faint hum before the light on the wall flashed green and the door opened.

They were using a smaller pool for this, since the yeerks wanted first and foremost to know if his cousins knew anything.

< They don’t. Please don’t do this. >

The Yeerk ignored him, offering a vague nod to the attendant. 

Justin watched them, brow furrowing with the first sign of concern.

“So these are them?”

“Yes sir. Berensons. Brooke, Forest and Justin. I would suggest starting with the older one.”

“Starting what?” Justin asked, frowning. “Tom?”

< Too late. > The Yeerk observed. < Much too late. >

Justin took a step toward him, his bravado fading away as fear settled in. It wasn’t a challenging move, but an attempt to hide. 

The human controller grabbed his shoulder and pushed a Yeerk to his ear. Justin’s face contorted in disgust and terror, eyes locking on his face. “To-!”

He flinched. He wanted to flinch. His face didn’t move. 

Brooke stumbled back into him, a terrified shriek leaving her throat. 

His hand went tight around hers, almost crushing her fingers, and she looked up, confusion and hurt on her face. 

< It’s not me, Brooke. It’s not. Oh god. Oh god please. >

But god hadn’t been listening for a long while, and he wasn’t going to start now.

Something he didn’t quite understand crossed Brooke’s face, and she threw her arms around his waist clumsily, pressing her face into his stomach. His hand found the back of her head, pressing it closer, and another controller stepped forward, Yeerk in hand.

“I want to go home.” Brooke sobbed against his stomach.

< Let me go! >

But it accomplished nothing, eventually her arms relaxed around his waist, and the Yeerk in her stepped back, wiping her face with the back of a sleeve. “She doesn’t know anything.”

Justin’s face contorted, irritation lingering. “He doesn’t either.”

The controller lifted the final Yeerk to Forest’s ear, his sleeping body undefended. 

There was nothing he could do to stop it.

Forest sat up, hand in his mouth, face twisted and confused, tears welling up in his eyes. But the impeding confused fit faded quickly. “Nothing.” The Yeerk reported, lisp still present. 

Nothing. This was all for nothing.

He could feel the Yeerk’s irritation.

Nothing. It was all for nothing. His innocent cousins were being tortured for nothing. 

He wanted to howl, to scream, to rage. But his hand did nothing but flex by his side.

“Dismissed.” The Yeerk in charge said, bored. “Perhaps the human aunt will know something.”

Unlikely. It was the Yeerk’s thought, but it matched his own thought so closely that…well. He knew it. He understood it. It came with more barbs and more pain for him. But he knew it.

The Yeerk jerked his head to the door. “Move.”

Justin’s Yeerk eyed them for a moment, but obeyed, automatically slipping into the trademark slouch. 

Brooke took his hand, touch light and calm. 

Forest’s Yeerk dropped his head back to his shoulder.

They left the pool in complete silence. 

But inside he was screaming.

**Author's Note:**

> Age wise we aren't given anything for Brooke or Justin, so I am going with nine for Justin and six for Brooke. Forest is three, and those toddler boosters are a menace.


End file.
